ウィッチクラフト信仰と祖先崇拝 : その機能的関連性について

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Each of these religious beliefs shares in the same functions as follows: explanation of various misfortunes; moral sanction; and maintenance of a social structure.Besides each of them stands in a complementary relationship with one another in its functions indicated above. In many societies sudden death or serious diseases are thought to be caused by witches. Whereas ancestores give misfortunes of less severity, for ancestors do harms only when their descendants fail to observe their traditional way of living or their duties towards their kinsmen or ancestors, so that the descendants may correct their misbehaviors.Witches are generally associated with such character that tends to bring troubles into human relations. In this way people succeed in rejecting and banishing the persons of too much envious, competitive or uncompromising character from their society. Consequently witch-craft belief regulates the relationship between co-wives, neighbors and co-workers. Ancestor worship, on the contrary, gives sanction upon the relationship between a senior and a junior member of a kin group. Unless a son obeys his fathers command, misfortunes fall upon the son, for the irritated father would not sacrifice to the ancestor in favor of his son.Witchcraft belief contributes to the maintenance of the solidarity of a group in two ways: it gives a safe way of dissolving frustrated feelings of the members which are created by conflicts that institutions and systems of the society might inevitably produce; and it prohibits the accusation of a witch within an intimate, cooperative kin group in which a collaborate relationship should be retained lest the fundamentally required stability of the society as a whole should not be broken. On the other hand ancestor worship considerably reinforces the authority of heads of kin groups of various size. The right of giving sacrifices to the ancestor is ascribed only to the heads, and thus the rest of the members must depend upon the heads in order to secure their ancestors favor. In these ways the solidarity of the cooperative relationship among the members of a society is effectively strengthened and maintained by witchcraft belief and ancestor worship.
日本アフリカ学会の論文

ウィッチクラフト信仰と祖先崇拝 : その機能的関連性について

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